<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Suspicions by RayneSummer</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24789040">Suspicions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer'>RayneSummer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Merlin - Episode Tags [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode: s05e08 The Hollow Queen, Gen, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, he got poisoned and kicked down a cliff pls help him, i hate s5 so i helped in the main way i can - w friendship and hurtcomfort, youre welcome</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:08:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,713</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24789040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayneSummer/pseuds/RayneSummer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwaine can't help but catch on that something isn't right here as he finds Merlin after the supposed assassination attempt.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gaius &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Gwaine &amp; Merlin (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Merlin - Episode Tags [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1794352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>276</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Suspicions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ah Merlin, there you are.”</p><p>Merlin opened his eyes and glanced up from where he was sitting slumped against the wall next to Daegal, to see Gwaine looking cheerfully down at him as though he wasn’t right beside a dead druid with an equally dead assassin a few steps away.</p><p>“You do pick the strangest places to have a nap.”</p>
<hr/><p>After Merlin’s short explanation that he’d heard a commotion and had come up to see the boy defeating the assassin before being stabbed, Gwaine nodded thoughtfully. “Alright then.” He turned to Leon, who was looking more confused than the knights behind him, who perhaps weren’t so attuned to the chaos that regularly went on in Camelot. “You deal with that, I’ll deal with this,” he said in the same bright tone, and without a word grabbed Merlin’s arm and hauled him onto his shoulders – the same way Arthur had done when the servant had been injured by a mace in the forest last year.</p><p>“Gwaine!” Merlin tried to protest, but the movement jolted his leg and he cut himself off with a yelp of pain as the knight positioned him carefully.</p><p>“Thought so,” Gwaine muttered, more to himself, and gave Leon a nod before heading off.</p>
<hr/><p>“You taking me to the dungeons?”</p><p>Gwaine frowned as he strode through the hallways, keeping a firm hold on his precious cargo. “Why would I do that?” He sounded genuinely offended, and Merlin paused.</p><p>“Didn’t have a problem with it last time I was under suspicion,” he murmured, beginning to struggle to form words.</p><p>The knight didn’t reply, but quickened his pace just a little.</p>
<hr/><p>“Gwaine! Is that Merlin?”</p><p>At the queen’s voice, Gwaine felt the boy he was carrying tense, the hand of the wrist he was gripping balled into a light fist. Wary of the strange reaction, Gwaine paused only briefly to glance at the queen. She looked the same as ever, but something put him on guard.</p><p>“Gwen.” Merlin said curtly before Gwaine could reply, raising his head but not looking at her.</p><p>“Oh, I’m glad you’re alright. I was worried,” she said, but there was something missing in her tone. Gwaine frowned at the conversation, feeling unease prickling his neck.</p><p>“I really doubt that,” Merlin replied through gritted teeth, sounding as if he’d said the same words in the same way before. Sounding as if he’d been <em>betrayed </em>before.</p><p>Gwen narrowed her eyes as Gwaine bid her a quick goodbye and headed down the corridor, not bothering to say anything about why he was carrying Merlin or what he knew.</p>
<hr/><p>“That was rude.” They were almost to the physician’s chambers and Gwaine was worried by his friend’s silence.</p><p>Merlin remained quiet.</p><p>“Oi.” Gwaine paused to move his shoulder, hoping to get a reaction. “Merlin?”</p><p>“She’ll get over it,” he muttered in reply.</p><p>“Hm.” Gwaine continued down the last hall before jostling Merlin again, the unease that had settled from meeting Gwen growing. There was something not right about the entire thing. From Merlin being missing in the first place to turning up just at the right time, so to speak. “What were you up to anyway? Last I heard, you were out having <em>fun</em>.”</p><p>The knight put an odd amusing emphasis on the word and if Merlin wasn’t concentrating all his energy on staying conscious for the next five minutes, he would have asked what it meant.</p><p>“Hey.” Gwaine’s tone was sharp, worried, and Merlin sighed. Gods he was tired. Of this whole thing.</p><p>“What?” He muttered into the knight’s back, and Gwaine let out a relieved breath.</p><p>“Just making sure you don’t die on me. Pretty sure Arthur wants to yell at you and he’d be annoyed if you weren’t around to appreciate it.”</p><p>Merlin huffed a breath of laughter, feeling more lightheaded than ever. The poison and pain were catching up to him and while if he was on his feet he was sure he’d have collapsed by now, unconsciousness could only be held at bay for so long. “You know I don’t do as I’m told,” he managed as his eyes fluttered.</p><p>Gwaine felt his charge go limp and paused at the last corner, fear growing. “Merlin? Merlin!” There was no reply and he swore, rounding the last corner to his destination.</p>
<hr/><p>Just as he reached the bottom of the steps to the court physician chambers, there were hurrying footsteps behind him and he glanced over, wary of someone unwelcome. Fortunately, it was Gaius, who was looking extremely concerned about the condition of his ward.</p><p>“Gwaine! What on earth happened?” The physician asked as he drew up beside the knight and gestured for him to continue up the stairs as he eyed Merlin’s unconscious form.</p><p>“Good question. I was wondering what you could tell me, actually,” Gwaine said in a typical chatty fashion as they entered the room. “Found him next to a dead assassin and a dead boy, he was brash to the queen, then passed out on the way here,” he explained as Gaius helped him lie Merlin down on the bed.</p><p>The older man looked sharply up at him. “Gwen saw you?”</p><p>Gwaine nodded, glancing at the physician in suspicion. “Yes, and you sound about as pleased about it as Merlin did,” he replied cautiously.</p><p>But Gaius was already focused on his ward, frowning as he examined the boy, worry increasing as he found an erratic pulse and clammy forehead.</p><p>Watching them slightly nervously, Gwaine’s gaze flicked from the physician to the servant, debating on what to do or ask. He settled for, “What’s wrong with him?”</p><p>Gently tilting the boy’s head to find a wound hidden in his hair, Gaius didn’t look up as he replied, “He’s injured, certainly… almost looks like he fell,” he muttered, more to himself, as he found the hole in the right trouser leg and carefully pulled it up to reveal a bandage, adding another piece to the puzzle. “But this has been treated, if a little roughly…”</p><p>Growing a little tired of the man’s mutterings, Gwaine said impatiently, “And why does he look like he’s had seven cups of whiskey? I’ve heard Arthur saying about the tavern but I’ve never seen him there,” the knight added, since this had been bothering him for a while.</p><p>Gaius mostly ignored him, checking Merlin’s eyes and then taking his wrist again, staring at him in worried intensity. “I can’t be certain but… his symptoms are consistent with poisoning,” he said eventually.</p><p>Gwaine’s eyes widened. “What? Wait-- do you think it was the same as Arthur—”</p><p>“Pass me that blanket, please,” Gaius interrupted, and Gwaine obediently turned to grab a thick blanket, passing it to the physician who immediately covered it over Merlin, tenderly tucking it in and placing a hand on his forehead with a frown.</p><p>“I can’t be sure,” he said slowly, looking down at his ward with sadness, knowing whatever it was would be a result of trying to help that boy, and hoped that it hadn’t ended in betrayal. He sighed and turned to head over to the nearby table, looking through labelled bottles. “But the symptoms are the same… weak pulse, paralysis, fever… although shock is making him cold.”</p><p>Gwaine frowned and looked at Merlin again. There was a blue tinge setting in his lips and he was shivering slightly even in unconsciousness. He glanced back at Gaius, suddenly afraid. “Do you have an antidote?” He asked urgently.</p><p>Gaius picked a bottle out from the rest and held it aloft for a moment, examining it. “I feel like he has already had an antidote, or at least something of the sort,” he replied, putting the bottle down and picking up a different one before heading back to the bedside. “From the state he’s in now, the poison must have been fatal; he’d be dead if he hadn’t received some sort of cure,” he explained at Gwaine’s frown.</p><p>“But how?” The knight watched as Gaius took a dropper and squeezed some of the bottled liquid into it carefully.</p><p>“Well, Merlin is actually quite knowledgeable in the healing arts. He might well have known the poison and how to help himself. Or he had help,” Gaius mused, and put the bottle aside. Gwaine watched in worry as the physician positioned the dropper over the boy’s pale lips and let three drops fall. Merlin shifted, shadow of a grimace passing over his face before falling back into deep unconsciousness. “Whatever it was, that should help.”</p><p>“Will he be alright?” Gwaine asked in concern.</p><p>Gaius regarded his ward thoughtfully. He did seem to be breathing a little easier, and the blanket had eased the shocked cold. He was still very pale – and that was saying something considering the servant’s usual colour – and there were the injuries to see to, but he seemed a little more comfortable, at least.</p><p>“Hopefully,” Gaius said slowly, placing the dropper on the table and pulling up a stool to the bedside, tilting the boy’s head to see the wound there again. It had been cleaned, but as with any head wound, there could be repercussions. He glanced up when there was no movement beside him. “He’s not in any danger right now,” he said gently to the knight who was watching his friend in trepidation. “You can go.”</p><p>Gwaine took a breath and looked from Gaius to Merlin then glanced at the door uncertainly. “Well, I had better be getting back…” he trailed off, thoroughly undecided. Gaius gave him a reassuring nod and he sighed. “Alright.” He straightened his shoulders and with one last look at his friend, headed towards the door.</p><p>“Gwaine.” The knight glanced back at the call to see Gaius watching him with a very serious expression. “Please do not tell the king or queen about this.”</p><p>There were several questions Gwaine could ask, but one look at Merlin on the bed and Gaius’ worried face and he decided he didn’t need to know more. He would protect them.</p><p>He just nodded and left, pausing to lean against the wall outside the room. Whatever was happening here, it wasn’t good, and after this, Gwaine knew he needed to be better at protecting his closest friend. But it was hard when he didn’t know what from.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've been wanting to write abt this episode for ages but I hate s5 bc theyre so idk adult and also Gwaine is great and I miss him</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>